Fourth of July Nails

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It’s time to celebrate Fourth of July here in America, and that calls for a patriotic mani (well, if you are theme-oriented like me). Instead of doing a literal American flag design, I decided to try something inspired by the stripes on the costume of Evil Knievel, the famous daredevil who broke more than 400 bones over the course of his career!

You’ll need:

Your favorite red polish. I used a really pretty glitter one by Milani called Ruby Jewels.

A nice blue polish. OPI’s Spider-Man collection is pretty perfect for this manicure. The shimmery deep blue I used is called Into the Night.

A good solid white polish. Mine is Milani’s High Speed Fast Dry polish White on the Spot.

Nail striping tape. This is really inexpensive but kind of hard to find. I bought a set of 10 rolls on eBay for only two dollars!

Nail clipper. Apparently it is much easier to cut the striping tape with these than using regular scissors. Superstar manicurist Madeline Poole gave me this tip the other day, and I take expert advice RULL SERIOUSLY.

1. When working with striping tape, you will need your nails to be completely dry. I painted mine white the night before.

2. Using the nail clippers, cut your tape and gently place it where you want the white stripe to appear on your nail. Keep in mind that anything not covered by tape will be painted over.

3. Paint your red polish on top of the first white area on the right. Be careful not to go over the tape, so that the edges will be straight and precise.

4. Using blue polish, paint over the white stripe in the middle between your tape borders. Again, be careful to stay within the lines!

5. Paint the remaining panel red!

6. After waiting for a minute or two, slowly and carefully peel off the tape. You should see two perfect white stripes!

7. Add a glitter top coat for extra sparkle.

8. Do some fingers differently. I really wanted to show off more of this Spider-Man blue, so I painted one finger blue with glitter. The ring finger is generally considered the “accent nail,” but I was compelled to do my middle finger.

This is so funny, my parents were just educating me about Evil Kneivel yesterday (I’d never heard of him before). And then when I read this this morning, he was just magically mentioned. I think Rookie may dictates small aspects of my life without even trying.